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meridian_roseTitle: Compulsion
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
Type: meta
Word Count: 755
Prompt: For the![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
trope_bingo prompt "mind control"
Verbena (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae.
It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial
herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants.(x)
This meta gives a brief overview of the mind control used in the television series The Vampire Diaries and the spin-off show The Originals. The method of mind control is commonly known as "compulsion". Someone who has been subjected to the mind control is "compelled".
Compulsion is a vampire skill. It can be used to make someone do something, not do something, to give up information, or to repress memories. It can be used to overcome other limitations – a vampire can compel a human to invite them into a home, where they could not otherwise enter. It is frequently used to solicit information with the compelled person then being told to "forget this conversation ever happened", leaving them with no memory of having betrayed a confidence.
Vampires can usually compel humans without difficulty so long as they can make eye contact. They cannot compel witches.
Vampires cannot usually compel other vampires. However the "original" vampires, the first created vampires can compel other vampires. This includes Elijah and Rebekah Mikaelson and their now deceased brothers Kol and Finn. Klaus Mikaelson is a hybrid, to be considered shortly. The immortal Silas was another special case. Furthermore a form of consensual mind control can be used between vampires, such as when Damon gave the dying Rose a comforting dream.
Humans can protect themselves from compulsion by wearing or consuming Vervain. In the first season of The Vampire Diaries a locket containing vervain was worn by Elena Gilbert, protecting her from being compelled. If someone cannot be persuaded to carry vervain they can be given it in liquid form. Mystic Falls' water supply was temporarily tainted with vervain to inhibit vampiric powers. Bill Forbes had trained himself to resist compulsion, so it is possible, though rare, for humans to resist.
The vervain only protects against compulsion, not physical attacks. A locket or posy of vervain can be removed by a vampire if they're quick enough, leaving the human once more vulnerable. Therefore ingestion is preferable. However vampires have kidnapped humans, including Sheriff Forbes, and kept them locked away until the vervain is out of their system. In more desperate circumstances, blood can be shed until the human is free of the vervain, as seen when Klaus, in an attempt to save Father Kieran from a hex, bled the vervain from the priest's system so he could compel Kieran to refrain from violence to himself or others.
If a human is immune to compulsion and is aware that a vampire is trying to compel them, they can act as if compelled, and the vampire will not know the difference. They cannot sense if their victim is truly compelled or playing a part. This applies to vampires being compelled by originals too. This helped the vampire Katherine escape from Klaus's compulsion.
Hybrids are werewolf-vampire crossbreeds. Werewolves are only born, vampires are only made. Thus a hybrid is a werewolf that has survived a vampire bite and not vice versa. Werewolf bites are toxic to vampires, and Klaus's original hybrid blood is the only known cure. Most werewolves don't survive the vampire bite, either – doppelganger blood gives them the best chance at surviving the transition. Their dual nature lets hybrids compel humans as a vampire would.
Klaus, as both an original vampire and the first hybrid, being born a werewolf before being turned into a vampire by magic, has particularly strong compulsion and strength amongst his other abilities. However his compulsion (and his blood) was still not strong enough to break the hex on Father Kieran. Compulsion cannot overcome magic, and compulsion can only be successful on an already compelled person where the two directives do not contradict each other. So, for example, if Damon compels a human to "not tell Stefan where I am", Stefan cannot compel the same person to reveal Damon's location to him. However Stefan could compel the person to tell a third party where Damon is and discover the truth that way.
Compulsion can be broken by a human being turned into a vampire, the killing (even temporary in the case of original vampires) of the vampire who compelled the human, or by witchcraft. If a compelled human becomes a vampire, they regain all lost memories suppressed by compulsion as happened to Elena when she became a vampire and recalled meeting Damon before ever meeting Stefan, a meeting he'd compelled her to forget.
Other supernaturals have different abilities relating to mind control, such as witches and travellers. There is no easy defence, like vervain, against these attacks.
Fandom: The Vampire Diaries/The Originals
Type: meta
Word Count: 755
Prompt: For the
trope_bingo prompt "mind control"Verbena (vervain), is a genus in the family Verbenaceae.
It contains about 250 species of annual and perennial
herbaceous or semi-woody flowering plants.(x)
This meta gives a brief overview of the mind control used in the television series The Vampire Diaries and the spin-off show The Originals. The method of mind control is commonly known as "compulsion". Someone who has been subjected to the mind control is "compelled".
Compulsion is a vampire skill. It can be used to make someone do something, not do something, to give up information, or to repress memories. It can be used to overcome other limitations – a vampire can compel a human to invite them into a home, where they could not otherwise enter. It is frequently used to solicit information with the compelled person then being told to "forget this conversation ever happened", leaving them with no memory of having betrayed a confidence.
Vampires can usually compel humans without difficulty so long as they can make eye contact. They cannot compel witches.
Vampires cannot usually compel other vampires. However the "original" vampires, the first created vampires can compel other vampires. This includes Elijah and Rebekah Mikaelson and their now deceased brothers Kol and Finn. Klaus Mikaelson is a hybrid, to be considered shortly. The immortal Silas was another special case. Furthermore a form of consensual mind control can be used between vampires, such as when Damon gave the dying Rose a comforting dream.
Humans can protect themselves from compulsion by wearing or consuming Vervain. In the first season of The Vampire Diaries a locket containing vervain was worn by Elena Gilbert, protecting her from being compelled. If someone cannot be persuaded to carry vervain they can be given it in liquid form. Mystic Falls' water supply was temporarily tainted with vervain to inhibit vampiric powers. Bill Forbes had trained himself to resist compulsion, so it is possible, though rare, for humans to resist.
The vervain only protects against compulsion, not physical attacks. A locket or posy of vervain can be removed by a vampire if they're quick enough, leaving the human once more vulnerable. Therefore ingestion is preferable. However vampires have kidnapped humans, including Sheriff Forbes, and kept them locked away until the vervain is out of their system. In more desperate circumstances, blood can be shed until the human is free of the vervain, as seen when Klaus, in an attempt to save Father Kieran from a hex, bled the vervain from the priest's system so he could compel Kieran to refrain from violence to himself or others.
If a human is immune to compulsion and is aware that a vampire is trying to compel them, they can act as if compelled, and the vampire will not know the difference. They cannot sense if their victim is truly compelled or playing a part. This applies to vampires being compelled by originals too. This helped the vampire Katherine escape from Klaus's compulsion.
Hybrids are werewolf-vampire crossbreeds. Werewolves are only born, vampires are only made. Thus a hybrid is a werewolf that has survived a vampire bite and not vice versa. Werewolf bites are toxic to vampires, and Klaus's original hybrid blood is the only known cure. Most werewolves don't survive the vampire bite, either – doppelganger blood gives them the best chance at surviving the transition. Their dual nature lets hybrids compel humans as a vampire would.
Klaus, as both an original vampire and the first hybrid, being born a werewolf before being turned into a vampire by magic, has particularly strong compulsion and strength amongst his other abilities. However his compulsion (and his blood) was still not strong enough to break the hex on Father Kieran. Compulsion cannot overcome magic, and compulsion can only be successful on an already compelled person where the two directives do not contradict each other. So, for example, if Damon compels a human to "not tell Stefan where I am", Stefan cannot compel the same person to reveal Damon's location to him. However Stefan could compel the person to tell a third party where Damon is and discover the truth that way.
Compulsion can be broken by a human being turned into a vampire, the killing (even temporary in the case of original vampires) of the vampire who compelled the human, or by witchcraft. If a compelled human becomes a vampire, they regain all lost memories suppressed by compulsion as happened to Elena when she became a vampire and recalled meeting Damon before ever meeting Stefan, a meeting he'd compelled her to forget.
Other supernaturals have different abilities relating to mind control, such as witches and travellers. There is no easy defence, like vervain, against these attacks.
